How to remove your face from Google Shared Endorsement ads

Some Google users are not entirely happy that Google is planning to use their faces to endorse products and services in online advertisements. In fact some of them have even gone so far as to make a formal protest by replacing their Google photo with one of Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt.

This is in response to Google’s recent announcement to use their user’s profile pictures, names, photos and product reviews harvested from Google+ and plug these into advertisements as endorsements.

Google has called the planned advertisements Shared Endorsements and Google has announced that on on 11th November a new Terms of Service will go live which explains that it is intending to use content in this way.

Endorsement Ads

On top of our images Google is intending to display reviews of products, shops and restaurants, as well as other content such as product reviews or songs bought on the Google Play store, when our friends and connections search on Google. Click the image below to see how Google’s Shared Endorsement ads will look like.

Click to enlarge

Shared Endorsement Scheme Opt-Out

Google is offering its users a way to opt out of advertising endorsements, and that will in all likelihood sidestep the legal issues that Facebook ran into over their similar advertising scheme called Sponsored Stories.